This article was taken from the December 2014 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Even in 2014, some Luddites question if video games are art. But Dundee-based developer Sophia George is turning the question on its head: can art be a video game?
George, 24, was appointed the Victoria & Albert Museum's first games designer in residence in 2013. Given the freedom of the museum's collections, She considered games based on rococo dresses or the wood carvings of Grinling Gibbons. Then something caught her eye: the 19th-century fabric designs of William Morris. "I noticed that the trays in the café had a Morris print -- his Strawberry Thief pattern really spoke to me."
After deciding that the strawberry-stealing bird was the star, George considered a shoot-em-up, but settled on steering a bird across a sketch of the pattern. By collecting flowers in the Strawberry Thief game, the player adds colour and detail to the artwork, and gains insights into Morris's artistic process.
George built the game to be accessible to non-gamers, but hopes that hardcore players will enjoy it. "Morris said art should be for everyone," she says. "I think games should be for everyone too."
Coming to iOS later in 2014.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
